It seems like it’s been years since the last Small Batch release but it’s now here, the Litto Gomez Diez Small Batch No. 3! The first two Small Batch releases were some of the strongest and most flavorful cigars I have ever smoked. Litto Gomez does small batch cigars very well, so I was very eager to try this one!

This cigar has a beautifully oily sheen to it (thanks to selenium I hear). The wrapper is dark brown with reddish hues. It looks and feels like a leather cigar!

Woo-hoo! The newest creation from Litto Gomez was on my must try list. The name Air Bender has two meanings according to Litto, the first is due to his affinity for Kung Fu movies and the other is that smoke appears to be bending air as it dissipates. Kinda poetic, no? My shop, Empire Cigars, just got the whole line in and I couldn’t be more excited.

What a lucky guy I am. The La Flor Dominicana Culebra Lanceros are some of the hardest cigars to find. The Double Ligero Lanceros by LFD are themselves a tough find. But every once in a while Litto Gomez produces the Culebra Lanceros in super small batches, and Empire Cigars was lucky enough to get a whole bunch of them in recently.

The packaging is simple and elegant: cedar coffins housing the culebra in shrink wrap. After removing the shrink wrap it was evident that the culebra goes into the coffin just so, do not get in the habit of pulling these in and out as you will damage the cigars!

Before I get to the actual review, I should point out another thing that makes the Culebra Lancero such a special cigar. Unlike other culebras, this format features three different wrappers: a Natural, Oscuro and Cameroon! I will review each of the wrappers individually and pick my favorite of the three at the end.

This big bad boy is one of Litto’s fresh batch of Limited Edition Releases for 2009. The other releases have given my stomach fits before, they have a history of being quite strong. The jet black wrapper in front of me does nothing curb my fear.

I’m taking a break from my break (?) to write this review (what a trooper).

The Cheroot is a very special cigar. Other than flying to the Dominican Republic and knocking on the Gomez’ front door, you can find this cigar at only one place – Empire Cigars in Raleigh, North Carolina.

This is a special looking cigar in that it is so unassuming. It looks like something Clint Eastwood would be chewing on in “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” or in any of those other Spaghetti Westerns. It basically looks like a dime store cigar. A-ha! And that’s where this cigar fools you.

This super-limited cigar is made in small batches and features 100% ligero in the filler (I am assuming the wrapper is not ligero, but I will check to make sure). Remember this is not just any ligero, but Gomez brand ligero. That’s right, Double Ligero ligero! LG Diez ligero! Too me, this is some of the strongest, butt whooping-est tobacco out there. This little fellah is a stick of dynamite waiting for its fuse to be lit.

This cigar is not going to win any model of the year award for pretty looking cigars, but come on! It’s a cheroot! The dark brown somewhat veiny wrapper hides inside a powerful blend of ligero that you can even taste in the pre-light draw. The draw is nice and easy, you do not need to clip the cigar to smoke it, but Hal recommends it.

Now a lot of you are thinking, how is 100% ligero going to taste anything but harsh and horrible? Well, I present you with Exhibit A – the Cheroot. The flavor from the first puff is very nice: there is a core spicy note (obviously) but also a unique woody flavor. Much like a oak barrel-aged kind of woodiness. There are also notes of Dutch-processed cocoa which do wonders to help calm your palate down for the impending onslaught it is about to receive.

Surprisingly the strength is much more subtle than you would expect off the bat. It’s not the same typical pepper-like strength you get in Corojos like Tatuajes, DPGs and Camachos. To get a real feel for the strength, try blowing it out through your nose. Your sinuses would feel a lot like they do when you get water up your nose. The best way that I can describe it is the strength of the LG Diez Small Batch #2 compressed and concentrated into a little cheroot. Woof!

The cigar burns great with a nice even burn and no hot spots. The salt and pepper ash hangs for a while and you get plumes of smoke with each draw. These cigars aren’t cheap, but you get your moneys worth with construction for sure.

The finish somewhat short, but this is not surprising since it is all ligero. But in the finish there is a bit of nuttiness present.

As I finish the cigar, I do notice a nice background sweetness that intensifies as you get to the nub.

So in conclusion, I will answer a few of my own questions:

Is this cigar for everyone?

No!! Unlike what the Edge claims to be but is not, this cigar is truly for the seasoned smoker and one that loves full strength in-your-face cigars.

Is this cigar complex? Will it get better with age?

This cigar is made with 100% ligero. It was made for Hal because Hal likes knock-you-on-your-butt sticks. It is what it is. I don’t see it changing much with time. But I’ll grab one and put it away and I do this again in a year or so.

Should I try one?

Is the Pope Catholic?

Seriously, this is a great cigar that you can only find at one place – Empire Cigars. Give Hal and the gang a call if you are interested in giving this little dynamo and try, you won’t be disappointed!

Ok, before I begin the review, let me explain this cigar. At the La Flor Dominicana event at Empire Cigars the other week, I saw a bunch of LG Diez cigars in different boxes. I saw on the box (which has a marbled look to it), it said “2008” next to the size. I asked the rep what this was all about. He explained to me that beginning in 2008, each LG Diez box will carry a Vintage label on it. I asked if this was just similar to a box date you see on Cuban cigars, and he said no, that Litto is making a new blend for the Diez each year. Now what this means to all of those other LG boxes and cigars still out there, is that when they are gone, they are gone forever.

I thought this was pretty cool actually, but the only drawback is that there is nothing on the cigar that indicates the year it was made. The only difference is in the boxes. Maybe Litto will employ a second band in the future…

Now my skeptical side finds this a bit peculiar as typically ALL cigar blends differ year to year naturally. But we’ll see when I light this puppy up!

Visibly, there does not appear to be any difference, the wrapper has a Rosado color and a lot of tooth, similar to the Opus X.

When I take my first puff, I notice a difference right off the bat. I remember a heavy pepper flavor in the “old” LGs, while the 08 has significantly less.

In fact, overall the new 08 blend is much smoother than the “old” blend. I pick up lots of leather and wood and a bit of coffee and pepper notes.

It burns dead even and gives off tons of smoke for such a little cigar. But don’t think because I said this cigar was smoother, that I meant milder. This is still one very strong cigar.